Tāhae 250 poster

This 'Tāhae 250' poster counteracts Tuia – Encounters 250, the New Zealand government’s nationwide programme of events intended to celebrate Aotearoa’s Pacific voyaging history while commemorating the 250th anniversary of the first collisions between Māori and Captain James Cook and the Endeavour crew in 1769. Many copies of the poster were pasted up around Wellington streets in November 2019 to protest the visit of the replica Endeavour ship to the capital from 30 November to 3 December.

Activists dubbed it the 'death ship'. With its weapons of war and military crew, HMB Endeavour exacted a violent and deathly toll on indigenous populations. Nine Māori were killed by Cook’s men when they visited Aotearoa in 1769.

Tāhae means thief, cheat, robber, crook, theft, and dispossession. Many felt that the government did not fully realise ‘the depth of ill-feeling towards the arrival of Cook from a Māori perspective’ (Moera Brown quoted in The Spinoff, 5 October 2019), and the problems of an event largely promoting a Pākehā history. This poster challenged the official commemorations by reminding viewers of the ideology of white supremacy underpinning 'discovery' and its commemoration.